The interaction of metal ions with nucleic acids. Ternary complexes of copper(II) with peptides and nucleosides.

Difference electronic absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to monitor the formation of the ternary complexes of Cu(II) ions with nucleosides and dipeptides containing Gly, Leu and Trp residues. Stability constants of these mixed-ligand complexes of Cu(II)-peptides with nucleosides were found to decrease in the following order: 6-ketopurines greater than 6-aminopurine greater than pyrimidines. Interpretation of the EPR data indicated that the covalent nature of the copper-ligand bond also decreases in the same order. The EPR findings suggest that nucleosides are bonded in the equatorial position of the Cu(II)-peptide complexes, however, in the case of pyrimidine nucleosides weak axial bonding also seems to occur.